


Not so Star-crossed

by LogicalParafox (Solitarysynonym)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 20:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16667500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solitarysynonym/pseuds/LogicalParafox
Summary: Lars of the Stars, out leading the Off Color gems away from Homeworld, just wants to get back to Earth. Notes and letters and care packages just aren't the same, but everywhere they jump the Homeworld gems can track them.Sadie Miller is stuck on Earth, missing her best friend but finding new hobbies and friends a welcome distraction from worrying about Lars the pink space zombie who maybe isn't a zombie? Better to put on a good show for the fans than to wait around for Lars to show up.





	Not so Star-crossed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soggywarmpockets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soggywarmpockets/gifts).



> Days 15-18 of my NaNoWriMo flash fic adventure. This one goes out to my Rosebuds who also ship Larsadie and also to bakamonocosplay and batsmarvelous' wonderful Sadie Killer and Lars of the Stars cosplays!

So there were aliens. Sadie could deal with aliens. They couldn't be worse than Mr. Smiley turning up to sing his rap jingle. After all, Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl were aliens and hadn't been _that_ destructive to the town. Neither had Steven. And he'd won over the other gems who had come calling and some of them were his friends now too. She saw him and Amethyst with that yellow haired one in the green outfit at the boardwalk and the ocean had come back that other time and, really, it hadn't been gone so very long. Honestly _Ronaldo_ was more otherworldly than these immortal gem aliens. Sadie could handle aliens. She could handle Onion after all. She could even handle it when Onion, Mr. Smiley, _and_ Ronaldo all wound up coming in at once for donuts. 

She couldn't handle Lars being gone. 

The rumors flew around town about how gems known as Topaz and Aquamarine had snatched Lars first, then taken Onion, then Jamie, and at last Sadie before Steven and Connie had found them. They had grabbed Connie and knocked Steven out before continuing their search for 'My Dad', working off of a list of existing life forms on earth beyond himself that Steven had given them accidentally. 

Sadie had been frazzled. After all, how often did you get kidnapped by hostile and sarcastic aliens that can fly? Still, she had at least been with Lars, secure in the knowledge that wherever they were going, they would go there together. 

Steven and the Crystal Gems had come at last to save the day as they always did... but everything had gone wrong. The ship had left, taking Steven and, they realized with horror, Lars. 

Steven at least was half alien. He had combat training. He had some idea of what he was facing out there in space. Even if it had been a bad idea and a mistake, Steven had chosen to go with them. Lars though.... Lars was a mistake. A hostage. A literal alien abductee being held by hostile aliens who didn't understand about breathing or eating or sleeping. They might kill him by accident. She couldn't bear to contemplate the idea that they might kill him on purpose.

Sadie went through the days on autopilot, trying to believe that Steven would bring Lars home without further harm. Steven had befriended other gems who had come to call with hostile intent after all, why couldn't he do so again? Lars would be fine. 

She worked long shifts without a partner, tried to keep it together as days passed with no news.... and then Steven returned. Steven, back from across impossible distances and he was able to because Lars.... Lars had died. He had only been dead briefly, a casualty of a millennia long war between the Crystal Gems and the Homeworld gems. He had been protecting those who had been discriminated against. He had chosen to fight for innocent victims. He had died on an alien planet so far away that it was barely a star in the sky. Steven had revived him somehow with his apparently magical ability to heal. And revive the dead. Lars had become a portal by which Steven could escape back to Earth while Lars stayed behind because he couldn't climb through his own hair. Lars. On an alien world being hunted by powerful gems who wanted to destroy the Earth. Lars, now the leader of a band of off-color gems who were hated and hunted on their Homeworld for not being perfect. 

Sadie could accept that, could even admire it.... but when was he coming home? She went over to his house sometimes to talk to his parents, to pick up letters for Steven to deliver to Lars through his hair. She sent Steven with care packages. She quit working at the Big Donut. She became Sadie Killer, lead singer for Sadie Killer and the suspects. Did shows. Made new friends. She tried to keep busy, tried not to worry about Lars. Lars of the Stars, intergalactic outlaw in a stolen ship with gem fugitives from Homeworld. 

Steven had taken Connie for a visit... why not her? He was visiting to take snacks and care packages, why not her? 

She didn't ask. Connie was Steven's battle partner somehow, the two of them able to form into a towering Amazon who could fly, of course Connie could go into space. What could Sadie Miller offer to a space exploration? Lars was living out some crazy sci fi dream in a cape on a space ship, what did he need her for? 

They were coming to Earth. Lars promised. He missed home and family and friends. His space alien crew wanted to come to Earth and live in harmony in a place where they weren't under a death sentence by existing. Lars was leading them here where they could be safe. And that was good, and right, and noble. Lars had become a hero and she had become... a singer in a band. It sounded so petty when she thought about it. What would they even talk about when he came home? 

Sadie worried constantly. She wished she could text him... but what would she say? What would _he_ say? She'd been in love with him for so long but in a frighteningly short length of time they weren't living the same lives anymore. They were literally on different planets now. How were they supposed to connect? 

\-----

Lars had gotten used to being pink. He had even adjusted to not really needing to do any human-type things like eating or sleeping. His crew didn't need to do those things either which made it easier to adjust. He could hardly quibble about being pink when his new friends, _his crew_ were as colorful a bunch as the Crystal Gems back on Earth. 

Lars' lack of gem and ability to pass entirely undetected had led the off color gems to follow him and declare him their leader. With his rebirth.... he found himself in actual danger now, actual conflict and situations where he could triumph. Emerald had chased them hither and yon but her ability to lie remained practically nonexistent and her schemes pathetically easy to see through. Lars liked being a captain. He liked being admired. He liked saving the lives of his crew and discovering that, in times of crisis, he _could_ take action even if he was afraid. He'd died once already... what was a little more risk for the cause? His crew faced shattering if they were captured... He would keep them safe. He would get all of them back to Earth. And then..... Maybe he'd join the Crystal Gems rather than going back to school. Sadie had already moved on from the Big Donut and he didn't really need to eat any longer... maybe he could crash with Steven and go on their planetary adventures. Maybe he could explore other planets in the Solar System. He hadn't had the grades to be a human astronaut but he wasn't just human any more. He'd find Sadie and..... 

His imagination ran out there. 

He needed to apologize... Needed to.... well... there were a lot of things he needed to do. He'd apologize. They'd talk.... She was always the more practical voice in their friendship, even if she was a rockstar now. Sadie could help him figure out what he should do next. All he knew was that after blasting through the galaxy, raiding Homeworld-controlled asteroid mines and narrowly escaping death and defeat at Emerald's hands.... sleeping through a math class no longer seemed at all worthwhile. 

\-----

"Captain Lars!" one of the Rutile twins cried as alarms began to sound. 

Lars looked up, gripping the arms of his Captain's chair. "What is it?"

"The Destiny Destroyer, sir, it's found us again. Emerald is attempting to hail the ship." 

"Blast, we need to find a way to mask the distinctive signature of the Nova Thrusters. Tell Fluorite to come up with some suggestions and any the rest of you have would be appreciated."

"Yes, Captain," chorused the twins and Rhodonite. 

"Ah! The Destiny Destroyer has found us because of the Nova Thrusters."

"Thanks Padparadscha. Now let's see what Emerald has to say," Lars ordered, adopting a relaxed slump in his chair. 

"RETURN MY SHIP TO ME AT ONCE YOU MISERABLE OFF COLORS!!!" Emerald screeched as soon as the channel connected. 

"No can do, Emerald," Lars said with a smirk. "We've got the place decorated just the way we like. She's our ship now." 

Emerald growled in frustration, glaring at him over the comm screen. "What kind of gem hijacks someone's prize vessel?"

"That's the thing, Emerald," Lars gloated. "I"m not a gem."

"Then what _are_ you????"

"I'm _Captain Lars_ ," he crowed. "Captain and Commander of the Sun Incinerator, leader of the Off-Colors and the greatest rebel Homeworld has ever faced. Bingo. Bongo." 

Emerald stared at him as he held his cocky pose, the comm connection still live. "Rhodonite," he hissed.

Rhodonite turned to stare at him with both sets of her eyes. 

"Cut the comm," he whispered.

"Oh!" she gasped, tapping at her console as Emerald began to argue, cut off abruptly when the screen went black. 

The gems on the bridge exhaled in relief, turning to look at Lars as they did so often. He had grown accustomed, having learned that the off-colors had a hard enough time taking action, let alone ordering others to do so. They needed him. 

It was nice to be needed. 

"Fluorite! How are those engines coming?"

The massive head emerged from the stairs to the lower deck. "Reaaaady to goooo on yooour commmmmannd," she said in her slow and steady way. 

"Very good. When we get some distance, we should see if we can mask their distinctive signature and finally get Emerald off of our tail."

"Th-aaat would be a goooood idea." Fluorite vanished into the engine room once again.

"Rutile twins! Let's go!" 

Emerald's ship tried to fly to intercept them, but even without the Star Skipper to disable her weapons, Emerald's heart still didn't seem to be in it. Her determination to capture rather than destroy the Sun Incinerator remained their single greatest advantage. If they could just shake her loose.... they could finally make the turn toward Earth. He refused to head that way before they were ready, however. He wasn't about to lead Emerald and yet more hostile gems to Earth. He could keep them in a holding pattern out here. Emerald, for all of her shouting, had yet to summon reinforcements or even report the theft of her ship. Rhodonite kept an ear and several eyes on communications between Homeworld loyal ships and thus far the Sun Incinerator being taken over by rogue elements and the off color's escape from Homeworld remained unreported. 

Captain Lars grinned and dropped dramatically into his captain's chair as the Nova Thrusters roared into life and space blurred around them. 

\-----

Sadie dug her hand into her pocket, throwing a fresh handful of confetti out over the crowd, using the wind from a fan strategically plaed behind her to scatter it as her ghostly robes billowed dramatically. 

The crowd roared its approval, surging forward whenever she reached into her pockets. Mr. Universe had gotten them a massive barrel of the stuff and Sadie had wondered if they'd ever possibly need that much. 

A replacement barrel was already ordered for the rapidly approaching time when they used this one up. 

She bellowed out the lyrics, using the monitor to keep her on track with Jenny and Buck's playing and Sour Cream's beats. The crowd screamed the words along with her when she reached the chorus, lifting her up and carrying her along on their tide as she threw them more confetti as the song reached its climax, slumping down into the prop coffin and bracing herself for the jolt as it lowered slowly beneath the stage to raucous applause and cheering. 

Sadie dashed to the stairs, shedding the ghostly robe as she hurried to where her zombie coat waited, hurriedly pulling it on and loading her pockets with a fresh load of confetti before hurrying up to her mark, bracing herself for the rise up through the stage. Mr. Universe had splurged on utilizing all the tricks of this particular stage, giving them a number of extra steps and routines to remember for each performance, but the reviews they were getting were extremely positive and Mr. Universe said he might actually have to hire someone to be their booking manager... or to run the car wash while he was out and about on band business. They were booked every weekend for the next several months. 

Sadie took a deep breath as the platform under her rumbled, beginning to rise up toward the stage. 

\-----

The crew had found a small planet where they could harvest fuel, the engines' distinctive signature hidden by the fuel source. After a week, it seemed Fluorite's supposition had been correct. No Homeworld ships appeared in the sky as they refueled the ship, providing Fluorite with what she needed in terms of raw supplies to finish the modifications. Rhodonite kept an eye on the communications, but there was as much silence about the renegades in their stolen ship as ever. Lars had a hope that Emerald might have given up rather than risking attracting the attention of a diamond to what would be seen as her own failure. Certainly the off colors were under a death sentence for the sake of their existence, but the Diamonds were intolerant of failure on the part of their minions as well as of new gems. 

"I predict," Padparadscha announced, dropping the large lump of ore she had been carrying. "I predict that the week will pass without violent incident." 

"That's great," Lars said kindly. According to the other gems, standard Sapphires were the seers of the courts, providing invaluable information about what the future held. Rhodonite had wondered what that might mean for what the strange fusion Garnet could see since she was a fusion of a Sapphire and Ruby. 

Lars had picked up a lot in his time with the off colors about what gems believed and did. Fusions like Rhodonite were forbidden, the only allowable fusions those between equivalent gems to increase their size and strength, used primarily by those gems involved directly in the fighting. Fluorite, a fusion of six gems and counting was considered a particularly egregious offense. Fluorite pointed out that all of her components chose to stay together moment by moment, more than could be said for the majority of gems on Homeworld. Padparadscha obviously had come out an off color, leading to that particular twist in a Sapphire's traditional skills. The Rutile twins, like Padparadscha had simply been born the way they were, a way Homeworld refused to accept. Lars thought he could empathize with those feelings. 

He led them all, the off colors and the misunderstood. Maybe Steven was right and back on Earth they could find their way in the world. On further visits, Steven had explained about Lapis and Peridot. Lapis, the gem who had taken the ocean, frightened Lars particularly. None of the off colors save Padparascha seemed to have any odd powers... but Lars wouldn't have bet money on that being 100% true for all of them all the time. 

Still, they were his crew, for better or worse, and they didn't deserve to be shattered for being true to themselves. 

Pearl had come through as well after Garnet, bringing her own stories and feedback as to what Fluorite could do with the engines. Never had Lars so understood that Steven's weird guardians were aliens thousands of years old; he couldn't understand a quarter of what she said to the other gem, though Fluorite at least claimed to grasp it and had set about making the necessary modifications to the Sun Incinerator's engines. 

For the first time in several weeks, they ventured out into space, away from the protection offered by the planet's similar chemical signature. Fluorite assured them that she had made the modifications correctly, but it was Lars who gave the order to jump, and they all held their breaths as they waited for Emerald to appear to berate them.... but no one came. 

"Friends! I have had a wonderful vision! Upon leaving the planet's surface and activating our engines.... no one will come!" Padparadscha exclaimed. 

The rest of the crew began to grin, looking at each other with growing excitement. 

"Yeah!" Lars whooped, sweeping up Padparadscha and swinging her around briefly before setting her back down and clearing his throat. "Well crew, I think it's about time we set course for Earth."

\-----

Spotlights focused in on Sadie as she stood poised, eyes closed and microphone held limply at her side. Sour Cream started the beat, a low base rumble that most felt rather than heard. It climbed the scale as Jenny added the bassline. 

The spotlights beamed down, the skin of her face feeling tight and dry as she baked. Her closed eyelids turned the blinding light into bright red. Sadie inhaled, sucking it into her lungs in a rush of cool air as she raised the microphone in a slow movement, her arm stiff. The crowd made hardly a sound as she brought it to her lips. 

_Tired from work....  
Hate my job..._

Buck's guitar joined her and they roared into their final song of the evening, the song that started it all. Sadie knew her marks, shuffling stiff-legged across the stage, one arm outstretched as the other held the mic. The crowd cheered and screamed for her, a dark mass with the gling of eyes, hard to distinguish after keeping her face turned up toward the lights. 

Sadie faked a stumble and fall behind a speaker stack, some members of the crowd gasping in alarm. She lurched upright, holding a jelly donut mostly hidden in her hand. 

_We... are the working dead,_  
and we lurch for minimum wage,  
but I'd really rather be......  
EATING YOUR BRAINS!! 

Sadie howled the last line, then bit messily into the donut, red filling covering her mouth and chin as the spotlights focused in on her. Sour Cream played screams from his sound board before the lights on the stage cut out, leaving the band in darkness as the crowd howled for them, cheering and applauding.

The band made a quick exit to the relative calm backstage, high-fiving each other. Jenny handed Sadie a pack of wet wipes they'd learned to have on hand after that one and she laughingly wiped the jelly filling from her mouth and chin. 

"Sadie you do that so good!" Jenny gushed, stretching and starting to undo the straps and pins that held the large tombstone in place on her head. "I don't know how you can lurch and sing AND remember all that choreography!"

"I'm just lucky I don't have to play an instrument!" Sadie retorted, waving off Jenny's extravagant praise. "You guys are the ones doing the really hard work." 

"Hey kids that was fantastic!!" Greg brought over waters, grinning and still dressed like he'd been for as long as they'd known him. Sadie smiled back, no longer feeling the urge to tell him it hadn't been that great. She could hear the crowd screaming still and she was beginning to feel like she might actually deserve it. 

"Hey Buck. Hey Jenny. Hey Sour Cream," a sheepish, familiar voice said. Sadie didn't want to turn around, didn't want it to be her imagination. 

"Hey Lars," Jenny said cautiously, glancing at Sadie. "How'd you get backstage? ...And back to Earth." 

"Steven got me a pass," Lars said, holding it up. "...And we shook off pursuit in Sector 5 after making some modifications to the Nova Thrusters to stop the Destiny Destroyer from tracking us." 

"Oh," Buck said. "Cool." 

"Thanks," Lars said. 

"Welcome back to Earth, I guess, and congrats on not being dead anymore," Sour Cream said. Sadie could hear him clapping Lars on the shoulder. 

"Oh.. you guys heard about that?" Lars sounded hesitant.

"I mean Steven's practically been putting out a newsletter," Sour Cream said with a shrug.

"I like the pink, it really brings out your eyes," Buck said, nodding in approval. 

"And the cape is _so_ space hero," Jenny agreed. 

"Thanks guys," Lars said. Sadie could hear a smile in his voice and couldn't remember the last time she'd heard him not go full on jerk while talking to the cool kids. She stared at the empty stage as the rest of the band went past her, Buck gently touching her shoulder. The touch reminded her that she was real. That _this_ was really happening. 

Sadie heard Lars clear his throat behind her, even over the lout chatter of the crowd as they dispersed now that the set was over. 

"You're a really good singer..." 

Sadie's cheeks were burning. She wondered distantly what the flashpoint was for the heavy eye makeup she was wearing. Spontaneous combustion wasn't real, it was like alien abductions... except Lars _had_ been abducted by aliens. 

"The whole band is good! I bought a shirt from Steven." 

Sadie couldn't tell if she was imagining it or if she could really hear her heartbeat. 

"I'm... I'm sorry I was gone for so long... sorry I didn't grab your hand... didn't help you..." 

Sadie tried to breathe normally but her breath hitched in a sob. 

"Sadie..."

The sound of her name on his lips was so familiar, even if the gentleness of his voice... the calm and the apology were as alien as... as the aliens who had kidnapped him. Who had _killed_ him. She might be going by Sadie Killer now and playing at being a zombie but he... What if this was a dream? What if she'd blacked out on stage from nerves or singing too hard and hit her head? What if this was a hallucination?

"Sadie?" 

His familiar hand hesitantly touched her shoulder and she could feel it. Through the straps for the suspension cable and the costume layers and the leather jacket... she could feel him. 

Sadie spun around, unable to wait any longer. Even if it meant that her hallucination would fade, she _had_ to know. 

Lars took a step back from her unexpected move. "Uh... hi Sadie." He smiled nervously at her.

"You jerk!!" Sadie yelled, dashing tears from her eyes as she lunged at him, fist cocked. 

Lars blocked with a deftness he hadn't had before he left. Before he _died_. 

"I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean to get abducted!! I was a coward and I'm sorry!" 

Sadie swung at him again though her heart wasn't in it and she was crying harder now, her vision blurring. She didn't want that. Didn't want to lose sight of him. Sadie reached out, trying to grab him. 

His hand met hers and he pulled her into a hug, his arms tightening until he was clutching at her like she was his only lifeline. Sadie felt like he was squeezing the breath out of her but she hugged him back just as hard. They hadn't been this close since... since the island... 

"You jerk," she gasped between sobs, pulling back to free her hands, wiping her eyes, then using her shirt when she still couldn't see. "How _dare_ you die in space!!"

"I'm sorry," Lars said again, smiling sheepishly at her when she could see. The pink disoriented her almost as much as the cape. Neither was as un-Lars-ish as apologizing however, particularly since these felt genuine. 

Sadie wiped her eyes, then gave him a suspicious look. "How can I be sure you're Lars and not some weird Steven shapeshift?" she demanded. 

Lars blinked at her. "...Can he do that? That's so creepy..." 

Sadie couldn't help but laugh. "Says the pink zombie space captain." 

"Ok fair," Lars agreed, shaking his head. He met her eyes solemnly. "I found something out there Sadie." 

"Alien space rocks?" 

"No. Well yes them too, but I mean that I found myself. My confidence." 

Sadie stared at him, then took a step back, really looking at him. "You're right, you have changed." 

"Says the rock star," he scoffed. "I can't believe you turned the cool kids into your band the minute I got kidnapped." He grinned as he said it though, a real grin that warmed his face and reached his eyes. It made her miss her unhapy coworker a little, but this Lars seemed.... happy. Centered. He was proud of her. He liked her music. He had listened to her music and watched her play along side Jenny and Buck and Sour Cream and he wasn't whining about how she was stealing his spot and his dreams. 

"Not the _minute_ ," she said, rolling her eyes. "I worked the Big Donut solo for too long waiting for you and then this just sort of... happened. 

Lars laughed. "Yeah, Steven's been bringing me news of you guys. Phone videos." 

Sadie hesitated, then looked into his eyes. "...Why didn't you ask Steven to bring me along for a visit?" 

Lars looked at her, then looked down. "...I don't know... I mean... it's in my hair but it still feels like it's his space you know? And he was already bringing me all the notes and care packages..... Plus I didn't want to be a wreck when you left... It really was life or death out there for a while.... I was really jealous when Steven told me about the band but.. it's great. You're great." 

Her arms were around him and he was holding her back, his space gloved hands cupping her cheeks and she remembered her eye makeup and realized how frightful she must look. "Oh no I bet I look awful," she groaned.

"You just look like Sadie," Lars said, looking into her eyes. 

He kissed her. 

It wasn't like the kiss on the beach, all desperation and loneliness. He kissed her like they had all the time in the world. Like Steven wasn't probably lurking somewhere nearby again to cheer them on. Like she didn't smell like sweat and wasn't covered in glitter and makeup. 

She kissed him back like he hadn't died. Like he wasn't pink and the captain of an intergalactic vessel with a crew of rogue space aliens. Like he was her best friend. 

Lars was blushing pink on pink when they broke apart and he smiled sheepishly at her. 

"Welcome home Captain Lars."

"Glad to be home, Sadie Killer."


End file.
